To determine the position of an object, it is known to use, among other things, an optical triangulation method. For example, in: J. A. Marzalee, R. A. Myllyla: Performance test of an angular scan LED array-based range imaging sensor, Proc. of the SPIE--the International Society for Optical Engineering, 2088 (1994), pp. 59-68. The measurement accuracy of such methods can be quite accurate if the angular resolution of the transmitter and receiver is high, but transmitters and receivers with limited angular resolution are used for reasons which include cost. The result is relatively large resolution cells whose extension in the longitudinal direction--perpendicular to the receiver/transmitter axis--becomes larger with increasing range from the measurement device.
European Patent Application No. 0 479 273 describes a method for determining the distance of an object with respect to a measurement device which is based on the radar principle. In this European Patent Application, the distance of the object to be located is determined by phase comparison between a modulated transmitted signal and a received signal reflected from the object.
It is the object of the present invention to configure an easily implemented optical triangulation method in such a way that the positional resolution is as high as possible for the measurement of the range of an object to be located.